Cross-linguistic differences in implicit language learning

Abstract

Implicit learning is generally characterised as a domain-general associative learning mechanism that will acquire any contingencies between attended stimuli. Many aspects of a first and second language are assumed to be acquired implicitly, but many linguistic approaches also propose that learning is constrained by prior linguistic knowledge (deriving either from Universal Grammar or, in the case of second language acquisition, from the first language). This view predicts that only certain contingencies in the input will be acquired. Here we investigate the contribution of linguistic constraints on adult implicit language learning using a miniature linguistic system and a reaction time methodology. We examined acquisition of agreement between novel determiners and their accompanying nouns. Native English-...